Loading ...If you need to contact a friend or colleague, how do you do it? Do you go see them, call them, email them, or use some form of the social Internet? Although answers may vary, using the social Web as a primary form of communication is becoming a growing trend. A study conducted by Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 7 percent of Americans rely solely on the Internet for the majority of their social communication.
But does this mean that as we become more social online, that we become less social offline? Kim Krause Berg, who has studied this area extensively, said:
“We’re actually becoming more social on a broader, more global scale… we’re talking to more people, we’re connecting with more people because we have the ability to do so… and we’re not so sure what to think about it.”
According to Kim, the social Web is very fascinating to us because it is still in the baby stages. In addition, we’re still trying to figure out how to use it. Users should be aware that challenges and conflicts do exist in the social Web but need to learn how to balance them with their everyday lives. Remember that the social Web was meant to make people more social, not less.
Are you so involved with the social Web that you are becoming antisocial offline? At social gatherings, do you spend more time connected to the social Web through your mobile device or communicating with the individuals around you?
Aloha
I addressed this topic in my quarterly newsletter “The Copy Cat,” several months ago. Then, I posted it on my real estate blog. You may read the article “Being Social Online & Off” at:
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1012674/marketing-in-turbulent-times-an-update-3-31-09-being-social-online-off
Have a great day
Debra A. Jason
The Write Direction
Balance – online/offline activities.
If I were a doctor I’d have to add it to the health directives.
It can get like that- too much online social – and then you go to a picnic and it seems odd, somehow.
One of today’s new realities.
Thank you for your article because it is a concept that needs attention.
elle
ellfagan.com
I anticipated this years ago, as many others have as well. It is only logical. Many who would not normally socialize, feel safer, with some anonymity and more equal socializing online, than offline. Those who have always been social offline are now more social online than off. Even business begins and ends online. We tend to go for the easiest route in everything we do.
Too often, in text, misunderstandings arise too easily, due to lack of tone of voice, inflection, etc. I have many times had to get off IM to resolve an issue I saw arising from the impersonal tone that can lead to an incorrect understanding of what has been said or not said. And it can take a wrong direction quickly and possibly damage a relationship if it is not noticed and/or dealt with eventually.
I never wanted more than one TV in the house. Putting more than one TV causes the family to split up to different TVs instead of learning to work things out, compromise and sometimes sacrifice for another family member. The democratic process is avoided.
The same applies today with our “online society”, that can be real or fantasy. You really don’t know who you are dealing with, we are missing out on body language, intonation, inflection, facial expressions, which then will make it harder to socialize offline as time goes on. We will lose the ability to connect face to face. We are getting farther from coming together literally, even though we seem to be reaching more people virtually. But only superficially.
The definition of social and communication, while inextricably linked, are not one and the same thing.
I enjoy all the social media stuff, twitter and facebook etc, but I can live without it. Indeed, I’m off to France with my family in a few weeks which will essentially be an internet retreat. Looking forward to connecting face to face with my brother and his family, cooking dinners and working in his vinyard. I’ll survive for two weeks without email and social media. Rgds Vince
The fact that we have online communication means that no one see who they are “speaking to” anymore.
Email “conversations” have lead to more cases of paedaphiles luring children. It is children and teens who are most vulnerable to this form of “socialising”.
One only has to look at the comments on face book and similar sites to see the mentality of some of the correspondents; in some cases those which clearly have a hidden agenda. The AOL contact pages are no better.
Yes it may have increased peoples’ “social net-working” but in a very dubious and potentially dangerous manner particularly to the vulnerable.
I find I have to email people now who only have mobile phones because the rates are extortionist. E-mail and social networking seem to be the only “free” forms of communication left to us, sans face to face dialogue. I believe there’s a financial imperative here that’s been overlooked.
I’m one of the 7% who rely on the Internet for the majority of my social communication. I have Aspie traits and before the internet I had very little social interaction at all.
I think for people like myself and maybe for people with certain kinds of physical disabilities, web communication is a Godsend. But taking the long view I would speculate that most people generally are having their social behavior altered, probably in a permanent way.
This is an excellent thread. I agree with most of the observations. The internet does give those who are shy etc in social situations an important outlet for expression. This is a good thing.
However, the communications do tend to be rather shallow, or unrealistic, and short-lived. It’s like people jump from one person to another as if trying different flavors of candy in a candy shop. Mostly, when I’ve met people in person that I’ve communicated with online, it’s like they aren’t able to relate in a real way.
It’s a very interesting phenomenon–definitely, online communication has both pros and cons. I agree with the writer above that balance is the key.
@Catherine wrote “The definition of social and communication, while inextricably linked, are not one and the same thing.”
I definitely agree with you! I struggled with how to answer the “are we more social or not” question for that reason. I opted for yes, we’re more social but indeed, that in no way means people are communicating any better. We’re still learning how to communicate and be understood, using our computers.
We may be more connected globally, but we’ve lost our offline social skills. We’ve become self centered and at times just plain rude. We tweet and text without disregard. It seems that what we do is more important than those around us. Am I connected? You bet! BUT, I can at least put the dammed technology away in the company of friends or family at dinner.
nice,,but for me the main point is we are better use socila offline, coz we wish to know the real someone character…
Awesome post! I believe that everything has advantages and disadvantages. Both social online and social offline are important. As Kim said we need to learn how to balance them with our everyday lives. We can use social online as the starter and offline as the maincourse:)
I actually find I go up and talk to random people more often irl now since being on Twitter especially.
I read similar article in Ezine articles, but this is having more info than that, You proved ur self as a pro…